


Burial

by Finaiarel



Series: Y-G-October 2018 [1]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: M/M, angstshipping if you squint, laughs nervously i have a lot of feelings, y-g-october
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-06
Updated: 2018-10-06
Packaged: 2019-07-25 21:56:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16206461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finaiarel/pseuds/Finaiarel
Summary: After laying his partner to rest, Yugi is haunted by strange dreams and stranger encounters.





	Burial

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AsagiStilinski](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/gifts).



> So, I'm five days late starting this because mid-terms are eating me alive. We will see if I ever actually manage to catch up or finish this challenge, but here goes.

The desert is eerily silent at night.

Yugi had always heard that it was cold, but experiencing it for himself is something else entirely, and nothing had prepared him for how quiet it is. He hugs his jacket closer about his shoulders and tries not to shiver, huddling closer to the fire. 

Marik’s voice dominates the circle of people, the flashlight held under his chin casting deep shadows across his sun-darkened face. It is a cheesy gesture and he knows it – had earned disbelieving laughs from Honda and Jounouchi when he had done it - but now that he is getting to the creepier parts of his tale of tombs and things that lurk in the dark, Yugi can see the appeal. When he makes that sinister face that is a little too close to his darker self’s they all flinch, and hang on his every word. 

“It was not until several decades later that the curse came to bear,” the Egyptian whispers, eyes wide and smile almost malicious. He is enjoying the spotlight, loving how they hang on his every word as if afraid to hear the next. “Not in the researcher’s lifetime, but in that of his grandson. It started with the locusts.”

“Scarabs, Marik.”

“It is my story, Ishizu, and I say it was locusts,” Marik hisses, disgruntled at being abruptly cut off by his elder sister. She looks amused, her dark eyes sparkling in the firelight, and raises an eyebrow at him but says nothing else.

“But if it will shut you up, scarabs. No more interruptions,” he says with a scowl, looping an arm around Ryou and casting both of their faces in the light of the flashlight. It makes Ryou’s hair look yellow, and he hears a snicker from one of the others but can’t tell whom. “The boy was little more than a baby when it began, fresh out his mother’s womb. They found it in his bed, perched on his chest like it belonged there. They killed it, and thought little of it till the next night…”

Marik is a good storyteller, but Yugi soon finds his mind drifting. He is exhausted, his mind ready to shut down for the night, and only Jou’s coaxing had managed to draw him from the tents and to the fire. He had wanted rest, to let his mind slow down and process his grief, but they had not wanted him to be alone. 

Every time he closes his eyes he can see him in his mind’s eye. The look in his eye when he had landed the final blow. His cape billowing out behind him as those doors shut behind him forever. The tomb collapsing behind them as they fled, sealing him in forever. A proper burial. 

He needs sleep.

He drifts somewhere between dreams and consciousness for the duration of the story, and he does not hear it when Marik’s voice ceases its tale. The next thing he feels is the weight of a hand on his shoulder, and when he blinks open hazy violet eyes Anzu is there.

“Yugi?” she asks, eyes laden with concern. He blinks and peers past her to see their friends staring at him with identical looks. “You should sleep. You’ve had a long day.”

“Yeah,” Yugi mumbles, his cheeks flushing as he rubs at his eyes and then glances around. The fire has burnt down to embers and someone has draped a blanket around his shoulders. He tugs it closer and holds in a yawn, then smiles apologetically at Marik. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep during your story.”

“That’s okay,” he says, voice carrying softly across their circle of friends. Rishid has disappeared, and Ishizu with him. Ryou is asleep in Marik’s lap, the Egyptian’s hand carding through soft white hair absently. “Like Anzu said, it’s been a long day. You should rest.”

“C’mon, Bud,” Joey groans, pushing to his feet and running a hand through his hair as he approaches and offers a hand to Yugi. “We have to test out the beds, make good use of the Ishtars’ hospitality.”

He pulls Yugi to his feet and starts leading him toward the tent. Yugi’s feet feel clumsy, disconnected from the rest of him, but soon his muscles remember his best friend’s familiar pace and hurries to keep up. The few people lingering around the fire call their farewells and behind him he can hear the pad of Anzu’s feet. They push through the flaps of the massive tent and immediately Yugi feels a little warmer, the interior of the tent trapping in the heat of the day.

“You need anythin’ before we head to bed, Yuge?” Jounouchi asks, turning to look at Yugi. His stare cuts deep, like he is trying to dissect Yugi’s mental state with a single look, and Yugi knows he must really be showing his vulnerability if Joey is this concerned. He blinks and forces a small smile, holding up a hand placatingly.

“I’m fine, Jou. I just need some rest.”

“You need more than rest, but that will be a good start,” Anzu chimes in, pushing through the tent flap to join them. “Make sure you don’t trip over Honda on your way to bed. He sacked out before you did, but Jou was less nice to him.”

“I’m still awake. Asshole jabbed me so hard in the ribs I almost hacked up a lung,” comes Honda’s voice from the darkness of the tent. 

“Did not! It was a light tap.”

“Tell that to my bruises.”

“Boys, please,” Anzu sighs, and Yugi is reminded of the thousand other times she has had to say the same thing. It brings a small smile to his face, and then he thinks how his partner would have laughed to hear it and that small bit of happiness is gone. Tiredness hits him like a wave, and he sways on his feet.

“Whoa, Yuge, you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” he manages, holding up a hand to stall Jounouchi before he can put his hands on him. “I just need to go to bed.”

“Right,” Jounouchi says, halting just inches away from him. “Well… go to bed, then.”

“I am,” Yugi retorts, frowning at how irritated he sounds before turning to look at Jou with an apology ready on his lips.

“Don’t worry about it. Just get some rest, Yuge,” Jounouchi tells him, stopping him before he can get a word out. “It’ll be easier in the mornin’, believe me.”

Yugi nods and, with a last smile to his friends, heads to his pallet. He trips over Honda’s bag on the way, but soon enough he is nestled beneath the blankets and warm. But despite his tiredness, it is some time before he is able to fall asleep. There is an emptiness in his mind that he cannot fill, and the void of his absence threatens to swallow him whole.

The desert is eerily silent at night.

______________

He wakes in the early hours of the morning to the sound of a hawk’s cry.

He blinks the sleep from his eyes and pulls the covers down from atop his head… and then immediately heralds the dawn with a soft groan as a shaft of sunlight beams him in the eye, bright and blinding. He covers his eyes with his hand and pushes to his feet, moving out of the light as he kicks free of his blankets and pillow pile. After a few heart-pounding moments trying to pick his way across the cluster of sleeping bodies lining the floor of the tent, he makes his way out into the morning light.

He is momentarily blinded, but once he blinks a few times he is able to make out his surroundings. The remainder of last night’s fire is half-covered in a layer of sand from the night wind, and the few palm trees that mark the desert oasis sway in the breeze. He yawns and rubs at his eyes, strolling over to a rock jutting out near the edge of the oasis’s pond. The surface is still cool, and he soon stretches out in the early morning sun. He closes his eyes and soaks in the feeling of the sun on his face, humming softly and enjoying its warmth.

Yugi is not sure if he drifts off or not, but the next thing he registers is that same hawk’s cry, but this time much closer. He opens his eyes and shields them from the sun with his hand, his cool rock now plenty warm as he sits up and looks around. It is still early, though it is hard to judge time in the desert, and when he looks around the area around the tent is still deserted. Everyone must still be asleep.

Then there is the sound of the flap of wings, and violet eyes snap up to see the hawk circling overhead. It is flying low, its brown and white speckled wings clearly visible in the sunlight. He watches as it makes lazy loops above his head, banking lower and lower in search of some sort of prey. It swoops, and Yugi holds his breath, but instead of snatching up some hapless mouse or snake It banks again and turns toward him. 

Yugi yelps and throws up an arm to protect his face, scrambling back on the rock to avoid the diving bird of prey. His heartbeat sounds in his throat as he waits for the feeling of claws sinking into his skin, but it never comes. And when he finally has the courage to pull his arm back and look, the hawk is standing on the edge of his rock staring at him with intelligent, curious eyes, as though willing him to speak. It takes a step forward and turns its head to examine him first with one eye and then the other, golden orbs peering into him as though it can see the very depths of his soul.

“Er… hello,” Yugi says, swallowing back the fear in his throat and looking wide-eyed at his new friend. “You uh… shouldn’t randomly dive at humans. It’s not good for our constitution,” he tells the bird with a frown, as though it might somehow understand him. And then he realizes how ridiculous the action is, and has to swallow down the laugh that bubbles up because he is afraid sudden noises might startle it.

Of course, it does not reply. Instead it hops closer, slowly approaching him, and Yugi backs to the very edge of the rock. But it continues its advance, and soon it is either fall in the pond or allow the bird to draw closer, and he has no idea which he would rather do.

“Personal space is a thing,” he tells the hawk, voice hitching higher as it steps closer and ruffles its feathers at him. And then, of all things, it reaches out and, ever-so-slowly, rubs its beak against his leg. Its eyes close, and it makes a noise akin to a cat’s purr. Yugi squeaks and tries to push it away, but when confronted with his hand the hawk merely opens its beak and nips him. 

“Ouch!” Yugi says, startled, and tries to pull his hand back. But the bird has his hand in its grip, firm enough to hold him and gentle enough not to hurt him. He stares at it, and it at him, and he feels compelled quite suddenly to burst into either laughter or tears.

“Wasn’t my life supposed to be normal after this?” he asks, and he’s not sure if he is asking himself, the bird, or the universe at large. 

The bird releases his hand then and clicks its beak at him. He narrows his eyes at it and makes a ticking noise with his tongue in retaliation. And then, of all things, it rubs its head against his palm like it wants to be pet. He cautiously runs his fingers through its feathers. They’re surprisingly soft. 

It seems to enjoy the gentle strokes of his fingers, and soon closes its eyes. He watches in awe as the hawk relaxes into his leg, and soon develops a rhythm as he figures out exactly what it likes best. The feathers stand up under his fingers and he scratches underneath, the soft clicks from the bird telling him when it is enjoying his touch the most.

After a while he closes his eyes and decides not to question it. 

He hears a soft rustle after a few minutes, but pays it no mind. It is probably just flexing its wings, and petting it has lulled him into a state of relaxation once more. The sun is warm but not hot, and its feathers are soft beneath his fingers.

He drifts, and then sinks into light.

______________

In his dreams the hawk is a falcon, but the falcon is actually a man. He is wreathed in fire in the morning sun, so bright Yugi can see nothing else. And like the falcon he has eyes only for Yugi, crimsons burning hot tracks over Yugi’s skin and scorching right down to his soul. That gaze burns beneath his skin, flames licking hot over his nerves, and when he wraps his arms around Yugi It feels like he will turn them both to ash.

______________

The sun is in his bed when wakes, and he is falcon, and hawk, and man. He is Atem, and he is alive, and sleeping peacefully as though he had never left. 

And finally, Yugi lets himself cry.


End file.
